Google vs Yahoo vs Bing: Which Search Engine Is The Best For Paid Ads?

We all know Google is far and away the most widely used search engine in the world. Google has become so popular that it’s used as a verb in everyday language and conversations. Estimates by many sites, including statscounter, has Google with about a 90% share of the search market. In Canada, the numbers are in alignment with this estimate. 

As a digital marketing agency that likes to keep our options open, we know Google is not the only search engine in town.

In fact, there are lots of them to choose from. Some you may have heard about and used in the past (Bing & Yahoo) along with other niche search engines. 

As a business, you want to maximize your online presence. The more touchpoints and impressions you can make online, the more you will be able to grow your brand. 

Most companies stick to optimizing for Google… but is it worth investing money into search engine optimization, paid ads, and digital marketing for other search engines? 

Let’s take a look at the search market in Canada

According to statscounter, here is the search engine market share in Canada as of March 2021:

• Google – 92.39%

• Bing – 4.57%

• Yahoo! – 1.64%

• DuckDuckGo – 1.08%

• Ecosia – 0.12%

• MSN – 0.05%

These numbers have been consistent for some time. 

You also need to factor in other platforms that may not be classified as search engines from a traditional sense encroaching on the space. Think of these platforms as new-age search engines that people use to find information. This includes Amazon, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and many other social media sites. When you factor this in, Google is not as overwhelmingly dominant as it appears. 

So, is it worth optimizing for other search engines?

Yes, no, and maybe. Our digital marketing agency recommends that Google should absolutely be your prime focus for optimization. But there may be some merit to using other smaller search engines. 

SEO principles are relatively the same for all search engines. A search engine presents the best website results based on what keywords a user has in their searches. Your website pages need to provide your users with detailed accurate and relevant information they are searching for. 

Then you need to understand where your people are coming from, referrals, and competition in your industry:

Where is your traffic coming from? 

If you get significant traffic from Bing or another search engine, then you should look into it. At the end of the day, it’s about getting people to your website and converting them into paying customers. If Bing is bringing you a lot of business, then leverage it. Some clients our digital marketing agency works with have ad campaigns on Bing that we monitor.

Are you ranking well in other search engines but not Google?

Even though search results tend to be similar across many search engines, there could be instances where you are ranking well on Bing or Yahoo, but not Google. In this case, you could be getting more referral traffic from these sites. You may want to double down on this while you are working on improving your Google search results. 

Consider hiring a marketing consultant to better understand where and how your targeted users are finding you before you decide to invest in other search engines.

A word about paid ads 

The one area where Bing could be really beneficial is their advertising platform – Microsoft Advertising. Using the ad platform, together with Google AdWords, can help you reach more people. Benefits of using it include:

• It’s more cost-effective than Google (approximately 30% cheaper!)

• There is less competition

• Not all people use Google

• You can import your AdWords campaigns

•  Higher Click-Through-Rates for shopping and financial services searches

Using search engines other than Google could be worth your while. Want to find out? Let’s talk about your search strategy to see if it makes sense for your business.

The Marketing Garage is an award-winning Toronto digital marketing agency. Our data-driven approach combines traditional proven ad development techniques with the test & learn capabilities of today’s online marketing.